Piramal Swasthya” a Connected Health CSR
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September 2015 Paridnya - The MIBM Research Journal, Vol-3, Issue-1 Innovative Business Practices for Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development in India Case Study on “Piramal Swasthya” a Connected Health CSR Bhagyashri Subhash Sangamnere, Research Scholar (PhD), Modern Institute Of Business Management (MIBM), Pune 05. E-mail : [email protected] Dr. Kalyani Srinivas C (CMA), Associate Professor & Research Guide, PES Modern College of Engineering, MBA Department, Pune 05. Abstract This Paper reviews trends of innovative business practices operating in environmentally, socially and economically sustainable manner balancing the interest of various stakeholders including a bottom of pyramid population. Innovative business practices today are necessities as they add value to the organizations as well as to the nation. There is a need for unique and practical business practice model that connects dots between key issues in healthcare sector. Industries are encouraged to move towards sustainable and inclusive business practices hence companies at all level are struggling to innovate and implement business practices that are unique, economically sustaining and reach deep down to every part of a population. The Special focus being the Business responsibility or corporate social responsibility (CSR) in healthcare technology domain Piramal Swasthya‟s Telemedicine services was selected and studied in detail. Piramal Swasthya is a registered non-profit organization which is a part of Piramal Foundation. It is a unique model that is built on the backbone of telecommunication. Piramal swasthya initiative and its solutions address key issues by truly democratizing healthcare with a unique business model having technology as a backbone to cut cost without compromising on quality and scale its solutions throughout India and beyond. Key words : Innovative Business Practices, Sustainable, Inclusive, CSR, Piramal, Telemedicine Introduction What are the innovative business practices? Is it possible that all innovative practices are sustainable as well as inclusive at the same time? If yes what are measures to be taken to innovate and implement the innovative business practices in India? This study seeks an answer to all such questions through extensive research and case study of a real-time corporate entity which has innovative sustainable agenda that is inclusive serving all kinds of populations. (30) Print ISSN NO. - 2347 - 2405 September 2015 Paridnya - The MIBM Research Journal, Vol-3, Issue-1 Innovations in India : India is a “dual economy” as on one hand it is the fastest growing economy on its way of becoming global innovator in key economic sectors like biotechnology, Information technology; IT-enabled services (ITES) managing high-tech products and services. On the other hand, India remains subsistence economy with very low per capita income. India must improve its innovation potential further to balance sustaining growth and address the unmet needs of poor. Whole world is pursuing the Innovation Agenda however the Indian Government has declared 2010-2020 period as a “Decade of Innovations” with stated plans for designing a National Innovation Ecosystem to stimulate the public- private engagement on research and development. Any particular nation or organization is dependent on Research, Innovation, Knowledge, networking, and Competitive intelligence. The world is looking forward to India as a source of knowledge, information, and skilled resources. Technological innovations in India solve problems in two key ways: by acquiring or developing technologies and by altering business models or capabilities. The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as a powerful tool drives societal transformation to empower, enlighten and enrich its people. It is the continuous life-long learning committed to innovation, helps in building the core competencies and competitive intelligence of the people across the globe, thereby sustainable development and inclusive growth. Innovative business practices today are necessities as they add value to the organizations as well as to the nation by increasing competitiveness, quality and sustainability. There is a need for unique and practical business practice model that connects dots between key issues in each and every industrial sector. Not only creating but implementing and disseminating those innovative models efficiently and responsibly can make a real impact on sustainable development in every sector be it in agriculture, healthcare or education etc. eventually contributing to economic growth. Being sustainable and inclusive : As per the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), sustainable development is doing good for serving needs of today with acceptance of environmental, economic and social principles. However besides being sustainable most of the businesses are not inclusive i.e. they are neglecting people at a bottom of the pyramid. Ideally business practice should cater to all the sections of the society as there lies a huge opportunity at the lowest income strata of the society (C. K. Prahlad & Hart, 2002). Recently organizations have realized the potential of being inclusive and they are taking steps towards it. Industries are encouraged to move towards sustainable and inclusive business practices hence (31) Print ISSN NO. - 2347 - 2405 September 2015 Paridnya - The MIBM Research Journal, Vol-3, Issue-1 companies at all level are struggling to innovate and implement business practices that are unique, economically sustaining and reach deep down to every part of a population. Innovative businesses ideally should have potential to be scaled up and advantage over competition in terms of efficiency, quality, and affordability. Some measures that leads to Innovative business practices in any industrial sector are start- ups with new products or processes, Use of technology and reengineering, corporate social responsibility initiatives, environmentally sustainable organizations, being competitive and standardization or benchmarking for high asset use. Indian Healthcare Business India is an innovator and has resources as well as competitive advantage, but there are still some gaps that affect the equitable and quality healthcare access to entire population: Key Gaps/ Barriers Need Opportunity (Innovation) 1. Inclusive Business Model 1. Deliver more value at less cost Huge disparity in 2. Mobile Healthcare & for all including bottom of terms of accessibility telemedicine pyramid population 3. Public Private Partnership Low-level expenditure 1. Need more funding and 1. Private Sector & government involvement of government, initiatives on healthcare private 2. CSR & Funding Scattered knowledge 1. Connected/ networked 1. Knowledge based economy and fragmented healthcare with uniformity of information industry 2. Technology (32) Print ISSN NO. - 2347 - 2405 September 2015 Paridnya - The MIBM Research Journal, Vol-3, Issue-1 Complex nature of 1. Accessibility to quality and 1. Mobile Healthcare & healthcare delivery affordable care Telemedicine Vast population & 1. Improve health of community 1. Inclusive Business Model Poor health indicators 1. Healthcare Insurance 1. Inclusive Business Model Low Affordability 2. Increase efficiency & lower cost 2. Low cost through technology Healthcare service provision to poor, especially in a rural area is primarily taken care by the government. Some NGOs play the corresponding role and almost all the private sector players are predominantly focusing on urban areas (tier I and tier II cities). However as a result of the buzzing innovation agenda, competitiveness and sustainability the private sector is also started tapping the potential of smaller towns expanding its focus further. The private sector is developing innovations to address the challenges of health inequities, improving healthcare access and balancing quality care with affordability (Source IFC) Healthcare Trends 1. Increasing investments : The healthcare sector has seen an immense increase in investments from private equity (PE) players. A number of corporate houses have also entered the healthcare space. For instance, the HCL group has forayed into healthcare by setting up a chain of primary clinics. 2. Frugal innovations : The private sector, MNCs and Indian players, are increasingly driving frugal innovations in healthcare. Technology is increasingly being used in both product and process innovations to increase healthcare cover in scalable and cost-efficient ways. For example, Indian organizations like Forus, MediVed, and Perfint Healthcare have developed innovative and low-cost solutions. Patient monitoring, emergency medical response, telemedicine, and HIS are some other areas where technology is playing a key role in expanding healthcare. Case Study: “Piramal Swasthya” a Connected Healthcare CSR Initiative Organization Profile Piramal Group, India is a private pharmaceutical company with operations in over 30 countries and a strong presence in more than 100 markets around the world. The Philanthropic arm of the group is Piramal Foundation; which strongly believe there are unexplored innovative solutions that have the potential to make a significant impact on the problems India confronts. With creative solutions & technological support, Piramal Foundation undertakes initiatives in four broad areas of healthcare, education, water and women empowerment. (33) Print ISSN NO. - 2347 - 2405 September 2015 Paridnya - The MIBM Research Journal, Vol-3, Issue-1 Piramal Swasthya